I finished reading this Kindle book yesterday and have been puzzling over how to review it ever since. Previously I've read, reviewed, and loved four of Gillard's books. In fact, I ranted about how they are categorized as romances since I don't normally like romance novels and felt that her books are so much more than that.
This book was technically difficult to write as it is not told chronologically, nor is it told in one long flashback. It begins with the death of one of the main characters and then the story is told in bits and pieces jumping from year to year, back and forth, to fill in what happened. I do believe this was the best way to tell such a complicated story because it is easy to follow and you understand the motivations of the characters better this way.
The two main characters are twins Flora and Rory Dunbar, and my problem is with those characters. Gillard's forte is characterization. In her other books I was totally taken with her heroines. With Flora, though, I mainly want to just slap her silly. Flora's passionate love for one man is too much for me to believe, and it doesn't have anything to do with who he is, rather that she is unable to function in any sort of a life without him. Her husband, on the other hand, is just too good, too understanding, too gentle to be believed. And her twin, Rory? He is a brilliant pianist who is forgiven anything because of his genius, but he goes from horrible to kind so fast my head spins.
I hate writing criticism of an admired author's work; in fact, I considered just not reviewing A Lifetime Burning at all. In the end I decided that friendship or no, admiration or no, I must review honestly because that's my job as a reviewer.
I'm certainly not saying this isn't a good book. What I'm saying is that this book is written beautifully and most people are going to be absolutely fascinated with the story. As an aside, it has been getting rave reviews on Amazon.com and on other blogs. All I'm saying here is that after beloved books such as Star Gazing, Emotional Geology, and Untying the Knot that touched my heart, I'm disappointed in this latest book from my friend, Linda Gillard.
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Sorry you were disappointed! But don't feel badly - people either love or loathe this book. The subject matter is difficult and I sit on the moral fence, which has upset some readers. (This book cost me 2 friends - and it was nearly 3!)
ReplyDeleteFlora isn't meant to be a likeable heroine, any more than Cathy in WUTHERING HEIGHTS or Becky Sharp in VANITY FAIR are meant to be likeable. (I had WH very much in mind while writing.)
I hope readers feel compassion for Flora. Some very dreadful things happen to her (and to mention what they are would entail spoilers.) Whatever Flora's sins are, she pays for them many times over, in my view. She dies alone, deranged, in poverty and in moral & physical agony.
I'm used to readers not liking Flora and Rory (who also pays the ultimate price a musician can pay for his arrogance & self-obsession.) But I'm surprised by your view of Hugh. Quite often I get emails from readers who describe him as a sanctimonous hypocrite! They certainly haven't seen him as "too good, too understanding, too gentle to be believed".
Hugh certainly isn't gentle with Rory when he engages in emotional blackmail to retain custody of Theo. He threatens to wreck Rory's career with lies about their relationship. Not exactly the behaviour you'd expect from an ex-clergyman!
A LIFETIME BURNING is a book about how much harm you can do, trying to do the right thing. (My answer is: a very great deal.) It's a book about moral grey areas. As Flora says, "I believed Hugh to be a truly good man. I still do, if one accepts that it’s possible to be good without being honest; that in fact it’s sometimes necessary to be dishonest in order to do good."
So thanks for an honest review. I wouldn't normally defend a book I'd written but as we're friends, I thought I'd respond. I wouldn't want you thinking I'd taken it badly! :-)
Linda, So happy this hasn't cost me your friendship. About Hugh: I felt he would do anything to protect Theo but otherwise too . . .
DeleteYou're right about this book being about moral gray areas, and I think it just rubbed me the wrong way. Obviously not every book you write will be a favorite of mine, but I admire greatly your talent and your ability to tell a great story.
Brave of you to comment. I'm always in a quandary about how to review a book I didn't like, especially if it's by a friend, or if it was a freebie from the author. I often opt just not to post anything. (I'm a coward, I know)
ReplyDeleteIt does take some courage. I was so afraid I would lose Linda's friendship but as you see above, she takes criticism well and has her own reasons for writing as she did. We're still friends and I feel like I've done my job honestly as well.
DeleteThere's always one book in an authors portfolio that we just don't like as much as the others. I know how much you love Gillard's work, so maybe your expectations were set too high.
ReplyDeleteThat's possible, Kathy. She writes such wonderful characters but this time I just couldn't connect with them. And I'm looking forward to her next book of course.
DeleteI am glad to see you chose to write an honest review, and also that Linda took it in the right way.
ReplyDeleteI'm used to adverse reactions to A LIFETIME BURNING and they don't really bother me. It's a disturbing book and provokes strong reactions. It's also very different from my other books and in genre terms it's literary fiction, whereas most readers would describe my other novels as women's commercial fiction or even (in the UK) romance. So ALB is (like Flora!) the black sheep of the family.
ReplyDeleteThe irony is, it's my favourite of my novels and I think it's my best. Happily some readers agree, but many don't. (ALB has 29 five-star reviews on UK Amazon. There are no reviews with fewer than 5 stars.)
Thanks for the comments everyone and thanks once again to Barbara for the brave review.
Coming up next from me is a supernatural love story. I'm sure some of my more serious-minded fans won't like that one! ;-)
This post and comments made for great reading. Thanks Barbara and Linda. All this talk has a different effect on me - now I want to read it to see what all the fuss is about. (I like controversy.)
ReplyDeleteI like controversy too, Margot! ;-) That's why a critical review doesn't upset me unduly. Discussion about a book suggests it's worth trying. I wouldn't go so far as to say there's no such thing as bad publicity - there surely is - but a little healthy disagreement stimulates interest.
ReplyDeleteA negative review also throws positive reviews into relief. With a thoughtful negative review, a blogger demonstrates that her positive reviews are worth something. I know most bloggers decline to review books they don't like, but I for one would like to see more critical, even negative blog reviews (constructive and well-argued of course.)
But I suspect I'm unusual in this respect.